Since humans began making recordings there has been an interest in map making. That interest continues today in the form of a major industry involved in the acquisition of land data, and the creation and distribution of maps of the earth and its features. To a smaller extent there is interest in the mapping of other celestial bodies. Most earth feature maps are described with surface distances. This is true even if the map is topographical. However, there are a growing number of applications where the features need to be described with respect to a coordinate system located at a position defined to be the center of the earth. Identifying features and correlating them to this earth-centered coordinate system can be a difficult, expensive operation. Sometimes radio frequency signaling equipment, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), is used to facilitate geolocating. The coordinate system adopted by GPS is both earth centered and fixed to the earth.
What are needed are a system and method for geolocating images using a less complex, but accurate satellite-based imaging system. What are further needed are a system and method for geolocating images using the optics contained in the main telescope.